The Soothing Touch Of Sports Apparel: Lapasa

China’s government in 2017 has declared the war on obesity or plain laziness in the runup to the 2022 Beijing Olympics and many a Chinese has been indulging in the odd to daily workout with much gusto.

With rivalry-inducing wardrobes branching out into all aspects of 21st Century life, the time, effort, money, hopes and dreams people nowadays invest in their vestments fills up the heads of many with doubt and insecurity, from the water cooler to the runway backstage to the gym. Ironically so, we might add, given sports are supposed to clear the head and boost the confidence. Temper goes Zen in style and seeks athletic advice from Lapasa: New Made In China athletic apparel for all across the globe to model. Brace your sports bras!

“What (not) to wear” has broadened its warrior wingspan from boardroom to gym to yoga class.

Courtesy of the Lapasa Instagram: @lapasa.inc

If I were to describe myself in one question, it would have to be “Mirror, mirror, on the wall; what shall I wear to the daily street-ball?” – ’cause I already am the prettiest of them all. That goes without saying. All hardy har har laughs aside, the matter of “what (not) to wear” is one that occupies both the female and male minds in any given place, at any given time.

The 2010s have brought us the new swag apparel that is “athleisure wear” and China Fashion too happily skipped along to its newly-Spotified beats. “What (not) to wear” has broadened its warrior wingspan from boardroom to gym to yoga class. It is precisely inside this hot and steaming sweaty room that we find Lapasa: Sports apparel with a soothing touch.

“Yoga’s history has many places of obscurity and uncertainty due to its oral transmission of sacred texts and the secretive nature of its teachings.” Quote, Yoga Basics

Lapasa Women’s Hoodie

Iron Man Vs. Tin Man

A newborn brand at only two years of age, Lapasa offers customers the best quality fabrics at the best possible price since 2015, with the brand’s entire design team and production squad based in The Middle Kingdom. Lapasa’s latest sportswear undertakings are carefully positioned on the yoga mat — another rage brought to us courtesy of the 2010s – and blend in with a customer crowd who does not seek to outrun Iron Man, but does opt for the healthy adoption of athletics into their daily routine to go from Tin Man to, well, Metallic Man.

Myself being a runner, I choose to leave many of yoga’s favored positions for realms and rooms other than the gym, but a little insight into the bendy swirls and sways of this acrobatic ancient practice never hurt anyone – well, it probably has, but that’s an entirely different story. We quote Yoga Basics:

“Yoga’s history has many places of obscurity and uncertainty due to its oral transmission of sacred texts and the secretive nature of its teachings. The early writings on yoga were transcribed on fragile palm leaves that were easily damaged, destroyed or lost. The development of yoga can be traced back to more than 5,000 years ago, but some researchers think that yoga may be up to 10,000 years old old. Yoga’s long rich history can be divided into four main periods of innovation, practice and development.

The importation of yoga to the West still continued at a trickle until Indra Devi opened her yoga studio in Hollywood in 1947. Since then, many more western and Indian teachers have become pioneers, popularizing hatha yoga and gaining millions of followers. Hatha Yoga now has many different schools or styles, all emphasizing the many different aspects of the practice.”

So now we know. And thus we are ready to bench-press our palms into the Lapasa mat.

A marriage between smart technology and design, utilizing the existing supply chain to the max and thus offering potential clients the chance to obtain the same high quality textile goods at one third of the price. Lapasa was born.

Lapasa Capri Yoga Pants

Working Up A Sweat

Is inevitable when starting up a new brand. The idea behind Lapasa hails from the same person who expanded one very well-known Chinese online network onto the Japanese market. After one venture in big and superb bag design failed due to a huge gap between manufacturing and actually selling of the finished product, the future CEO of the yet-to-be-named brand experienced a Eureka moment when he came across one Chinese factory that could literally deliver the goods he had been looking for all along: A marriage between smart technology and design, utilizing the existing supply chain to the max and thus offering the new sports apparel brand’s potential clientele the chance to obtain the same high quality textile goods at one third of the price. Lapasa was born.

Yoga today proves one sports apparel branch leg pressing some prodigious potential, no need to get meditative about that, yet the number of big players in the niche-specific game is limited. Springs to mind: LuluLemon. The term “yoga” itself has proven a top online search in past years, but somehow the activity together with the tranquilizing garb that comes with it remain located within a non-competitive market. Lapasa swiftly decided to jump on the train of “yoga”-Googling consumer behavior, selected the yoga pants they were already sporting (get it? get it?!) in their collection and through carefully selected material alterations and logo positioning, a new generation of high-end leggings was born, all ready to wear with an upgrade in terms of function and support to barefoot-boot.

Running with the Party line certainly does take on whole new meaning here.

Lapasa Women’s Sports Leggings

Good Sportsmanship

Athleisure wear has become a global entity and “value for money” is one credo that matters to all of its aficionados. Chinese customers included. China’s government in 2017 has declared the war on obesity or plain laziness in the run-up to the 2022 Beijing Olympics and many a Chinese has been indulging in the odd to daily workout with much gusto. Despite China’s market lagging slightly behind in the athleisure department – with boasting sports apparel being more of a political statement than a stylish one – the nation’s clientele is spending increasing amounts of cash on sports apparel. A little Party enforcement/sportsmanship never hurt anyone – okay, it has, but that’s an entirely different story. Running with (i.e. toeing) the Party line certainly does take on whole new meaning here.

In the athletic design process, two “minutiae” stand out: Fashion-ability and comfort. Sportswear is the No. 1 function-related wardrobe one could possibly own and despite not everybody having the perfect body, they all do require the perfect fit. Fashion in sports must bear within the ability to provide both mental and physical support. Speaking in Lapasa terms, “Everybody has the right to look in the mirror, review themselves and rate their entire beings an 8. At least!” Test runs, in all their literal and proverbial facets, are key in creating the right sporty fit for everyone wanting to feel and look good at the same time. You don’t want to make them run for the hills.

Lapasa’s founders have been active in the retail industry for some 20+ years, in other words: They know. From suppliers to textile manufacturers, they have their global sourcing covered. And that’s not limited to China – granted, kinda deadwood. Given the touch of the fabric is quintessential during your workout, only the finest on the market will do. Take, for example, Lapasa’s AW17 collection equipped with thermal underwear for which the brand traveled Down Under, gathering the most advanced in merino wool their extensive database could come up with.

Aside from increasing competition among retailers, online stores offer any buyer access to a wider array of options to pick and choose from according to their own customized wishes.

Lapasa Men’s Shirt

Designing Personality

The designer team, too, is key. With all Lapasa designers living and working in China and Asia at-large, they for a large part define, or rather “create”, the future of fashion. Fashion with a global feel to it as the new Made In China label too is, by all means, an international one. With international online shopping and shipping currently outdoing ye region-bound brick ‘n mortar tradition, then, it is up to the designers to speak to a massive online client base, and convince them to flock to any given brand they may be working for, through their designs. An Iron Man race in itself.

Whatever the Net-surfing buyer wants, the Net-surfing buyer can get. Aside from increasing competition among retailers — beggars can’t be choosers, one might say – online stores offer any buyer access to a far wider array of options to pick and choose from according to their own customized wishes. Online shopping, on the one hand, entails the freedom to identify who you are and what you want, yet on the other hand can work up a severe sweatband-needing sweat with any designer or brand.

For Lapasa, who currently mainly sell on Amazon, the online runner, Zen-master or thermal-wear lover is a Goddess-sent. Online buying moves fast. Nevertheless, fast fashion, Lapasa is not. This brand is all about coming into your own and pursuing that goal in (ath)leisurely fashion. For that, we at Temper salute Thee.

On a final bright reflective runner note… Where else does the online shopping Walhalla sport more followers than, right, in China? This booming market, where people are seeking healthier lifestyles encompassing more fitness-time than hotpot-meals, for any online retailer can prove a 10K run — rather than a marathon. Now, in retail lingo, that’s good sportsmanship.

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Published by Elsbeth van Paridon

I, Elsbeth van Paridon, am a Sinologist and run-of-the-mill fashion aficionada. After tackling Beijing for some six years and living in Hong Kong for a bit, I currently find myself in the Europe-based throes and woes of the dragon that is a degree in Journalism.
我，伊丽莎白，是一名汉学家和时尚爱好者。在北京努力地生活了六年之后，我短暂地转战到了香港，现在返回了欧洲的我正在攻读新闻学学位的征程上努力奋斗着。
Perpetually in pursuit of the greater good that is “China Fashion”, I set up Temper Magazine to help promote the dynamite dynamic fashion scene sprouting within Beijing, Shanghai and China overall. Catering to anybody and everybody who reads English and/or Chinese, Temper Magazine covers all the basics and bases. From China's street style scenery to its budding photographers and internationally renowned designers: We present one hot-hip-happening current collective weaving The New "Made in China" tag.
我创建的双语时尚杂志Temper Magazine，宣传介绍在北京、上海及全中国的有关中国时尚的最新前沿动态，关注并深度挖掘“中国时尚”内涵。迎合中外读者，涵盖时尚基础。从街头风格，到新秀摄影师，到国际知名设计师：Temper Magazine迅速捕捉并记录着这场炙手可热的新“中国制造”风潮。
The term “Made in China” is undergoing the ultimate 21st Century makeover. Escorted by the increasingly strong influence of a new thinking among China’s younger generations, regarding individuality and the expression thereof, the fashion scene in the Middle Kingdom is exploding. And stretches far beyond what meets the eye. It’s appliqué, one might say.
“中国制造”的定义正在经历着一场21世纪终极改造。在中国年轻一代人的个性风格及表达的强烈影响下，中国时尚界引发的这场时尚大爆炸，触及社会的各个层面，其深度、规模及影响力早已超出了我们的所见范围。
View all posts by Elsbeth van Paridon

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About Temper Magazine／关于Temper杂志

From Beijing to Shanghai and every corner of the Mainland, China’s fashion scene is a phenomenon that deserves to be explored by the global design and fashion world. In order to capture a real sense of this colorful and inspiring new landscape, Temper Magazine looks into the art of clothing in contemporary China.

We collect the latest in menswear design, women’s clothing, designer newbies, established names, changes in the street scenery and budding photographers. Explore 21st Century China through a fashion focused lens and enjoy the ongoing change and innovation within the everyday whirlwind that is China Fashion Design.

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About TEMPER Magazine／关于Temper杂志

From Beijing to Shanghai and every corner of the Mainland, China’s fashion scene is a phenomenon that deserves to be explored by the global design and fashion world. In order to capture a real sense of this colorful and inspiring new landscape, Temper Magazine looks into the art of clothing in contemporary China.
从北京到乌鲁木齐,现代中国的时装舞台是全球设计师和时装领城必须探索的一种现象. 为了真正的反映这个鼓舞人心的新景观,Temper杂志调查当代中国的服装艺术.
We collect the latest in menswear design, women’s clothing, designer newbies, established names, changes in the street scenery and budding photographers.
Explore 21st Century China through a fashion focused lens and enjoy the ongoing change and innovation within the everyday whirlwind that is China Fashion Design.
我们这边收集男装设计,女装设计,知名品牌,时尚达人和(刚起步的)摄影师中最流行的趋势.从中国制造到中国创造!